1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of conveying substantially rectangular pieces of cloth to a cloth treatment apparatus, such as a rotary ironer, whereby the piece of cloth is initially spread out and conveyed in its spread-out state and at a given rate of conveyance between a subjacent conveyor and a superjacent conveyor that abuts on the subjacent conveyor, and whereby folded edges, if any, on the frontmost and/or the rearmost border(s) of the piece of cloth, seen in the direction of conveyance of the subjacent conveyor, is/are completely or partially straightened in the plane of the piece of cloth prior to the piece of cloth entering said cloth treatment apparatus, eg a rotary ironer.
The invention further relates to an apparatus for exercising the method, said apparatus comprising a subjacent and a superjacent conveyor and means for operating said subjacent and superjacent conveyors, and wherein the subjacent and the superjacent conveyors abut on each other and are configured in such a manner that individual pieces of cloth can be advanced in their spread-out state there between with a frontmost and a rearmost border seen in the direction of conveyance of the piece of cloth, and wherein the apparatus comprises means for completely or partially straightening folded edges, if any, on the frontmost and/or the rearmost border(s) of said piece of cloth, seen in the direction of conveyance of the piece of cloth, in such a manner that the folded edges are completely or partially straightened in the plane of said piece of cloth prior to said piece of cloth entering said cloth treatment apparatus, such as a rotary ironer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Such apparatuses, as known ia from DE 38 25 646 C2, are most often used in industrial laundries where the substantially rectangular pieces of cloth are initially washed and subsequently dried, following which they are introduced into an apparatus configured for spreading the pieces of cloth and transferring them to a conveyor that conveys the pieces of cloth in their spread-out state to a rotary ironer where the piece of cloth is further dried but where, in particular, the piece of cloth is ironed.
Thus, DE 38 25 646 describes an apparatus comprising a superjacent and a subjacent belt or tape conveyor, and wherein the superjacent and the subjacent belt or tape conveyors are arranged so as to abut on each other and thereby pull the piece of cloth in between the two conveyors. However, in this process it often occurs that the piece of cloth, although being substantially completely spread out, has folded edges either on the top side or the underside of the piece of cloth. Therefore the known apparatus according to DE 38 25 646 features means for straightening folded edges on the front border of the piece of cloth, seen the in the direction of conveyance of the conveyors, said means consisting of a feed conveyor arranged before the above-mentioned belt or tape conveyors, said feed conveyor being provided with a braking device arranged for briefly braking the feed conveyor during the period of time when the front border of the piece of cloth is just entering between the superjacent and the subjacent belt or tape conveyors. In this manner, folded edges on the front border of the piece of cloth, if any, are straightened prior to the piece of cloth passing the superjacent or the subjacent belt or tape conveyor.
However, it is a problem with this prior art that the straightening presupposes at least a brief braking of the piece of cloth, and that only the front borders of said piece of cloth can be straightened, the apparatus being unsuitable eg for straightening the rear borders.